Talk:Bic (company)

Disputable Claim

Hi,

I have a BIC affiliate website, www.BICeveryday.com, that I would like to include on the External Links section of the BIC Corporation profile page. It is a great resource teachers and students...

I believe my link was removed for promotional purposes, but I did see a similar link on the profile page for BIC Sports? Is there a way this BIC company link can be added to the BIC Corporation profile?

Thank you.

Moved content from BIC Corp. page

I have cut and pasted the content that was on BIC Corp. to here with a couple of minor changes i.e. replacing instances of Bic Corp in the text with Société Bic.--Trounce 11:11, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Bic Pen = Bic Cristal

The Bic pen, more correctly titled the Bic Cristal, is possibly the company's best known product.

When I think "Bic Pen," I think of the round, white-barrelled Bic White Stic pens, which this OfficeMax page calls "BIC's best-selling pen." I'm sure they outsell Cristals in the U.S., but possibly not in the rest of the world.

My question is whether saying "Bic pen" is "more correctly titled Bic Cristal" is necessarily accurate. Any thoughts? Gaagaagiw 22:38, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Bic Orange

What about the Bic Orange with a finer point? Isn't it sold anymore? --84.20.17.84 (talk) 10:29, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

BBB's Blog

I found this story, while surfing for spiritual items.

http://qspres.org/

Look for "webmaster's Blog: My Bic Blue Ballpoint Pen".

It's different!

List of products

Is it really that imformative to have such a long list of bic products? Surely a few examples would surfice. Lucas42 03:34, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree, but, not being an expert in the field of pens, I'll let someone who knows what they're doing make the edit. I'm not here to start an edit war. 66.31.225.37 18:58, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Tagged as unencyclopedic, see what other editors will do with the lists first. Hydrogen Iodide 05:06, 20 May 2007 (UTC)

For a company this large,the article is awfully short. I think more information on the products is needed. Since it is so difficult and time-consuming to jump back and forth in Wik, I'll just write what I think I read on two other Wik pages: Bic bought both Wite-Out and Tipp-ex, the former the leading correction fluid in the US, the latter the leading one in Germany. 211.225.34.179 (talk) 08:04, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

bic lighters deserve a page

Bic lighters are consistent enough to describe, and are popular enough to be worth describing. According bic's press pdf, they are tested for 'safe' burn times of 2 minutes, although the sticker on the side only recommends 30 secs max. There is an equation to determine what percentage of the lighter's fuel remains by weight, and there are tricks, such as rolling the flint wheel backwards to improve flint, that should be known. I want to know what is the maximum wind an unaided bic can light in. However, wikipedia is a catalog of only 'some' physical properties, not all, per subjective lines in the sand and deleted content. =(

Bic Lighter Limerick Contest

In the mid-70's, Bic had a limerick contest that aired on the radio MANY times every day, to finish a limerick they started. You couldn't turn on the radio without hearing:

I once knew a pretty good trick, That began with the flick of my Bic. da da da da da da, da da da da da da, da da da da da da da da da.

Over and over throughout the day. It got old fast. I entered the contest, but didn't win. Here is my limerick entry:

I once knew a pretty good trick, That began with the flick of my Bic. I wish you would quit, With this Bic-flicking shit, Your commercial is making me sick.

Thank you for your time.

History of slogans?

The section “History of slogans” consists of a single slogan, with no explanation about why Bic used it or how it is relevant. I know almost nothing about Bic, so I can't add more content there. Maybe someone else can? R2D2! (talk) 14:25, 30 October 2013 (UTC)

BIC Sport subsection - Written like an Ad?

Seems dubious that a generous user wrote that section. Stinks of advertisement. Any editors want to add the disclaimer block to it?

External links modified

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• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20101212080335/http://www.allbusiness.com:80/manufacturing/miscellaneous-mfg-office-supplies/8941620-1.html to http://www.allbusiness.com/manufacturing/miscellaneous-mfg-office-supplies/8941620-1.html
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110723083614/http://www.cyclingranking.com/rankings/rider.aspx?id=2519 to http://www.cyclingranking.com/rankings/rider.aspx?id=2519
• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20060718132405/http://biz.yahoo.com:80/ic/53/53693.html to http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/53/53693.html

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Jair Bolsonaro

Do you think we should add section on Article about mr Jair Bolsonaro stop useing Bic pen because it "is French."Khoshhat (talk) 07:18, 1 September 2019 (UTC)

References

Why begin Products section with reference to Gillette?

The Products section begins with reference to products not made by BiC. Would it not be better to begin by referring to something made by them, and then include mention of there having been an earlier similar product? I bring this up because I was quite puzzled when I read this section first of all. --Brian Josephson (talk) 08:38, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Edit Request

I work for BIC and have a conflict of interest that prevents me from editing this page myself. I would like to request some changes and additions to this page. Can somebody help me with the following?

• Can you change the title of the page to “BIC (Company)”, as this is what the company is more widely known as?
• Can you change all mentions of “Bic” on the page to be in all caps (BIC)?
• Can you replace the current “Products” section with a “History” section? The product section content will still be included, along with new content, just incorporated within the history section as I will detail below.
  • Can we begin this new history section with the following: “In 1945, Marcel Bich and his partner, Édouard Buffard, bought an empty factory in the Paris suburb of Clichy, where they began production of pen holders and pencil cases [1].
  • Followed by “Marcel Bich bought the patent for the ballpoint pen from Hungarian inventor László Bíró, and using Swiss watchmaking tools, devised a manufacturing process that produced stainless-steel balls for the tip of the pen” [2].
  • ”Bich soon perfected the design of the ballpoint pen, and the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen became the company's first product in 1950.” [3] [4].
  • ”The design of the pen has remained mostly unchanged since its initial launch [5]. Bich formed Societe Bic in 1953 [6]. The company was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange in 1972 [7].”
• Can you add a subsection within the history section called “global expansion”? This will replace the current “subsidiaries” section on the page and include some of that existing content, as well as some new content:
  • Can you start this section with: “Between 1950 and the 1970s, BIC expanded globally into Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, and Spain [8]. In 1958, the takeover of the American company "Waterman Pen Company" allowed BIC to establish itself in the United States [9]. By 1967, BIC was manufacturing nearly 500 million pens annually, accounting for nearly 60 percent of the U.S. market [10].”
  • After this, start a new paragraph with the existing sentence “In December 2015, BIC acquired 100 percent ownership in Indian stationery company Cello Writing, and the company was renamed as "BIC Cello (India)."
  • Followed by “Cello was founded in 1995 and, as of December 2015, is India’s largest manufacturer and distributor of writing instruments. [11] In 2019 BIC inaugurated a new facility located in Nairobi, Kenya, which serves the East Africa region [12].
  • As of May 2021, BIC has 25 factories around the world [13]. BIC’s global headquarters remains in Clichy, outside of Paris, France. Its U.S. headquarters are in Shelton, Connecticut [14].
• Can you add a new subsection within the history section called “Product diversification” and include the following (Some existing content, some new):
  • Begin this section with a subsection called “1970s” and include:
    • Following the success of the BIC Cristal ballpoint pen, BIC released its next pen, the 4 color pen, in 1970. The 4 color pen allowed one to change the ink color without changing the pen [15].
    • After that line, move this existing content here: “BIC began expanding its product line further throughout the 1970’s. In 1970, Gillette purchased S. T. Dupont Paris, whose principal product was luxury cigarette lighters. During this time Dupont explored the possibilities of marketing a disposable lighter, developing an inexpensive disposable lighter called Cricket, which it introduced in the United States in 1972. Later that year, BIC was test marketing a disposable lighter that could provide 3,000 lights before wearing out; Bic introduced this lighter in 1973.[3] BIC also started to produce disposable razors during the 1970s. In 1975, it released the first one-piece polystyrene razor, which became a highly demanded product.[8]”
  • Add new subsection, called “1980s”, and include:
    • Start with the existing sentence: “During the 1980s, BIC shaving products reached $52 million in sales and accounted for a 22.4% share of the market.”
    • Followed by “In 1981, upon noticing the growth in the leisure industry, BIC began a subsidiary called BIC Sport, which manufactured and sold water sports products. [16] BIC announced the sale of BIC Sport to the Estonian company Tahe Outdoor in 2019 [17].”
    • In 1989, BIC attempted further product diversification with the introduction of pocket-sized perfume spritzers. The perfumes were unsuccessful and withdrawn in 1991 [18].
  • Add new subsection, called “1990s-present,” and include:
    • In 1992, BIC purchased Wite-Out Products, an American brand of correction products, and subsequently reintroduced the correction fluid as BIC Wite Out [19].
    • BIC’s shaving portfolio expanded throughout the 1990s and 2000s, adding the Soliel, a brand of razors for women, in 2004, and increasing the number of blades until the Flex 5 launched, with five blades, in January 2015 in the United States [20] [21].
    • In 2018, BIC introduced a new line of temporary tattoo markers called BodyMark by BIC [22]. Soon after, in 2019, BIC entered the genderless grooming market with the Made For YOU and Us grooming lines. [23]
    • In 2020, BIC purchased Djeep, a manufacturer of high-end and personalized lighters. The acquisition allowed BIC to expand its customizable lighter offerings [24].
    • The company introduced a new line of eco-friendly stationery products called BIC ReVolution in 2021. All are made of at least 50% recycled plastic. The paperboard used in all of the packaging is made of 100% recycled content [25].
• Can you add a new section called ‘In popular culture’ and include:
  • In 2018, Centquatre-Paris featured a BIC exhibition, which included 150 works created with the BIC collection.The exhibition included works from works by Alberto Giacometti, René Magritte and Fernand Léger, Martin Parr and Mamadou Cissé

[26] [27].

• • The BIC Cristal is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in New York and the Center Pompidou in Paris [28].

Thank you for your help. -Rmiller12 (talk) 19:46, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Hi Rmiller12, I can work on these. I'll take a look through and update you on what I could or could not do once I'm finished. Thanks! - Cmccarthy215 (talk) 21:48, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Circling back here - I took a look and I think we can move forward with most of these, but I'd love to hear another editor's thoughts regarding changing the title and all instances of "Bic" on the page to all caps as "BIC." Both the German and French pages for BIC do this, so I'm inclined to agree, but would like a second opinion before I make that change. - Cmccarthy215 (talk) 19:42, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

@Cmccarthy215:, I am not seeing that the WP:COMMONNAME in the sources is BIC, but rather Bic. So I'm inclined to deny the request and keep Bic. JBchrch talk 18:43, 28 June 2021 (UTC)

@Cmccarthy215: are all of the edits here complete? If so, can we close this? Z1720 (talk) 19:13, 24 August 2021 (UTC)

@Z1720: Yes, just marked as closed. Thank you for flagging! Cmccarthy215 (talk) 19:21, 30 August 2021 (UTC)

Edit Request

Hi, I’d like to request a few more edits for this page. I noticed some of the information in the infobox is outdated. Can you make the following updates to the infobox?

• Can you update “key people” to be just “Gonzalve Bich, CEO”? The source is https://www.prweek.com/article/1493611/bic-group-restructures-global-comms-team

• The financials listed are from 2016. Can you update with the latest numbers from 2020:

• • Revenue: €1.6279 billion (2020)
  • Operating Income: €229.1 million (2020)
  • Net Income: €93.7 million (2020)
  • Total Assets: €2.1694 billion (2020)
  • Total Equity: €1.4564 billion (2020)

• • The source for each of those numbers is: https://us.bic.com/media/bicworld/Communications/Press Releases_Presentations_Publications_Investor Kit/Press Releases/2021 English/BIC_FY2020 Results_Press Release_17FEB21.pdf]

• Can you update the number of employees to 11,246 (2020)? The source is https://report.bic.com/2020/RI-BIC-2020-ENG.pdf

• The website listed is incorrect. Can you please change it to the correct one, www.bic.com?

• I also noticed a couple of lines in the “Ownership” section that are not accurate: “The company went public in 1958 with a reverse merger into the older Waterman Pen Company of Seymour, Connecticut and later sold off the older operation.[32” and “In June 2010, Bic sold its funeral products division to Prairie Capital, a private equity firm in Chicago.[33]” Can those two lines be removed? It looks like neither are supported by the sources provided.

Thanks in advance for any help with these.

-Rmiller12 (talk) 20:12, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

Hi Rmiller12, these updates have been made. - Cmccarthy215 (talk) 16:29, 8 June 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 29 September 2022

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. Per consensus. (closed by non-admin page mover) – robertsky (talk) 02:58, 6 October 2022 (UTC)

---

Société Bic → Bic (company) – In common parlance, the company in the U.S. is referred to as simply "Bic", as opposed to its French name "Société Bic". This move would make it a bit easier for readers to find the article and read more about the company if they so wish.

Further, the new title better obeys WP:COMMONNAME and is more precise (WP:PRECISE). Thanks, and let me know what you think. :) — That Coptic Guy (talk) 00:06, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

• Support per nom. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 01:58, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
• Support per nom as likely to be little known by its official corporate name. BD2412 T 03:17, 29 September 2022 (UTC)
• Support per nom.--Ortizesp (talk) 04:19, 29 September 2022 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

BIC Products

After Owning this company, now has added new production line after year 2021. Now, you can see better quality. E. K. 46.100.39.243 (talk) 16:45, 5 June 2023 (UTC)